Equinox on 19th — Restaurant in Washington

I am a vegetarian so I loved having Equinox as an option in the business lunch scene dominated by steakhouses, but it pains me to say I will not be coming back. Average entree is $20-ish for lunch. I ordered the special, a vegetarian pasta with brussel sprout leaves, parmesan and truffle oil. Get the check, it's $56. I balk and ask why on earth if a special is three times the price of every other pasta on the menu, they would not say so. Waiter says no one ever asks (BECAUSE YOU SHOULD VOLUNTEER THAT HIGHLY COUNTER-INTUITIVE INFORMATION) and said he would discount the price. It was discounted $8 to the appetizer portion. He tells me white truffle is thousands of dollars and people don't always know that. That is obnoxious, and a reason why you should say the price. I guess it's expensive but I don't know how much and shouldn't be expected to factor that in. This is not an "obvious" luxury item like filet mignon with a side of foie gras. You can get truffle mac or truffle fries at your neighborhood Olive Garden. Also, I didn't love the "special" and thought it was oily. I have eaten here before and had a good experience, but this was unbelievable. You cannot just scam customers this way just because you typically have a business crowd. Concealing information from your customers is not a way to show how "upscale" you are, it is downright dishonest. You lost a repeat customer.

*EDITED: The managers were very persistent in calling me back and apologizing for the situation and have offered to comp the price of a future meal. I was happy to hear they have implemented a policy chance and now print the special, along with the price, on the menu (which is really the only fix I was interested in). Raising to 3-stars because I appreciate them...

TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE SERVICE and you MAY NOT get served you ordered !!!!!

A group of us decided to come here as part of our birthday weekend. To avoid the dinner rush, we decided on a 8pm reservation on a Saturday night. We showed up on time and not one person came to the table until 8:45! When the waiter finally arrived, he gave us water and handed us the specials menu and left. He reappeared about 10 minutes later and asked if we wanted any drinks without given us a drink menu. We decided on the tasting menu with the chef's wine pairing. The first course was asparagus soup served lukewarm. After the soup was served, the whole wait staff disappeared!! The pairing wine did not appear until we are almost done with our soup! Pairing wines were late for each subsequent courses. We ended up serving ourselves one of the pairing wine after it was left on an adjacent table and the waiter was nowhere to be found!! One our dish was supposed to be short ribs and it was served with steak instead. Once the dish was served, all the wait staff disappeared! So we decided to have the steak instead and it was quite delicious. When the waiter was asked what happened to the short ribs? His response, "the steak is better than short ribs"!! When I told him, that's not the point and they should inform their guests if they have to change the main ingredient of a dish. The response: a shrug and walked away!!! As restaurants are working hard to recover during this pandemic, this certainly is not the strategy for the restaurant to stay afloat. We will never step foot on this restaurant again!!

For good food and experience, try La Bise next door. Used to frequent that place when it was...

Eqinox is amazing. I love that they have a full vegan menu. Their high prices are well worth the quality of their restaurant, service, and food. And the food... Words can't even describe how delicious their food is. And the fact that they are trying to also impact the amount of food wasted in the restaurant industry is amazing. My family and I attended their Not Wasted dinner, a dinner created around the movement of not wasting as much food in the restaurant industry, and in general, and on educating the attendees about the amount of food wasted in households, but also in the restaurant industry, and why we should care about it, and how it affects the environment as well as the ecosystem. And the dinner they served attendees, BEYOND delicious. And it was made from things you normally would have thrown away, like carrot shavings, lettuce stems, etc. The menu they created for that night was delicious. They had another Not Wasted dinner yesterday, 04/22, to celebrate Earth Day (even though I'm sure they all acknowledge the fact that every day is Earth Day) and I wish I could have attended. But the menu looked just as delicious as their initial Not Wasted dinner menu, and their regular, seasonal menus that they have. In general the restaurant has amazing food. The photos included are from their main menu as well as their first Not Wasted dinner in February. This is one restaurant I highly recommend trying out. Chef Todd Gray and his wife Ellen have created an amazing restaurant and amazing environment for their guests to eat in, as well as an amazingly tasty vegan menu that I recommend...